1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to articles worn by a user, and more particularly, to gloves and watches with removable elements, such as bands or patches for use therewith.
2. Background Art
Many people develop painful ailments due to their age, a sports-injury, or execution of repetitive motions. These ailments inhibit their ability to participate in sports and perform various other motions during normal daily activities. These ailments include such problems as xe2x80x9cgolfer""s or tennis elbow,xe2x80x9d carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis in various joints and muscles and tendon problems. To reduce the effects of such ailments, many athletes wear devices, such as copper bracelets, magnetic bracelets, or cloth wraps that contain magnetic or far infra-red radiation amplifying minerals. These devices are often ill fitting and cumbersome so that athletes and other users find them distracting or inhibiting when worn during the performance of certain motions.
One solution to this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,046 to Lopez et al. which discloses a therapeutic glove with magnets embedded therein and disposed at various locations within the glove such as the fingers, palm and back of the hand. These gloves would be difficult to wear while attempting to grip a tool or sports implement, since the magnets therein would interfere with the user""s ability to grip and may prevent a snug fit such as that desired in many sports"" gloves.
Therefore, a need exists for a compact, and secure way to provide the benefits associated with such materials without interfering with the user""s performance.
Moreover, people who spend significant amounts of time outdoors can be exposed to a large range of temperatures. In such conditions, they prefer to maintain a reasonable range of hand temperatures to control precisely their dexterity and their grip on tools or sports implements. Many people now carry and use different types of gloves, light weight ones for warmer days and more bulky, lined gloves for colder days. This requires investing in two types of gloves and carrying two types of gloves on days when large temperature swings are expected. Therefore, a need also exists for gloves or other articles that can be used in a large range of temperatures to help maintain adequate hand temperature.
Broadly, the present invention is an article, such as a glove or watch, to be worn by a user. The article includes an article fastener disposed on the article""s inner surface and at least one, separate removable element. The removable element has an inner surface including a complementary element fastener and an outer surface for contacting the user""s skin. The element further includes a health enhancing component, a comfort enhancing component, or an electronic component. Upon mating the article fastener to the removable element fastener, the removable element is removably connected to the inside of the article. Upon the user disposing a hand within the article, the removable element is in contact with the user""s skin.
In one embodiment, the element is a single layer or multi-layer structure, and the fasteners are of the hook-and-loop type. In another embodiment, the health enhancing component includes magnetic, copper, or far infra-red amplifying materials. In yet another embodiment, the comfort enhancing component includes terry cloth, leather, synthetic leather, fabric, foam, a gel pouch, fabric with temperature controlling materials, foam with temperature controlling materials, or a gel pouch with temperature controlling materials. In an additional embodiment, the electronic component performs a function selected from the group consisting of measuring heart rate, measuring blood pressure, measuring distance walked, measuring body temperature, measuring external temperature, measuring time, measuring strokes, measuring the speed of the user, or measuring the speed of the hand of the user.
The health enhancing, comfort enhancing and electronic components can be used singularly or in various combinations.
In one embodiment, the article is a glove and the element is a band that is configured to fit adjacent the wrist portion of the glove or the element is a patch configured to fit adjacent the back portion of the glove. The band and the patch can be used together or separately in one glove. The article can be provided with a set of bands or patches with different properties or combinations of health enhancing, comfort enhancing or electronic components.
The article, in another embodiment, is a watch and the element is a band that is secured to the inner surface of the watchband.
In another embodiment, the watch band itself includes the health or comfort enhancing components and is removably secured to a watch body.